Business leaders know, and research validates, that workplace conditions influence employee performance and engagement, and ultimately company productivity.

A safe, comfortable, and healthy working environment, in addition to social dialogue and technology, will advance productivity. This sounds pretty common sense, but the above conditions rely on six actions:

Motivate – As supervisors are always being encouraged to monitor their workers, why not let the workplace itself do some of the work? By using the tools to observe who works where, when, with whom, and what conditions they prefer (e.g., temperature, lighting, amenities, etc.), supervisors can ensure that their workers are provided for, and environmentally encouraged even before they ask.

Animate – By making checklists and other potentially dull (but necessary) classification systems part of a game, supervisors can make old sticks into carrots and keep their workers entertained and engaged. Need to call an employee in for a meeting? Promote it as if it were encountering the “Big Boss” in their favorite game. The challenge remains, but it is now more desired.

Clearly State– Make sure all workers know what is expected of them and what they can expect in return. Again, workplace preference can be used as a reward for productive behavior. For example, if a project is finished first by a particular team, they get the corner workspace for the next week.

Communicate – Something as simple as an effective intranet messaging system can make the difference between group engagement and disjointed disaster. Again, the can be used to encourage and support effective communication both among workers and between workers and supervisors.

Collaborate – As each individual or team begins to see clearer paths to their (or your) goals and more appropriate and desired rewards at the end, they are more likely to work together to solve larger and more complex problems, as long as the rewards are suitable.

Educate – As individuals and teams engage larger goals, make sure to scaffold their development with appropriate and effective training and support. Though they are doing more on their own, workers must tell that the building is not the only entity that wants them to be comfortable.

Organizational productivity represents the sum total of all the individual worker’s productivity levels. If these support systems are not in place, a company’s physical and economic productivity can be jeopardized.

Tools like CrowdComfort’s Human Sensor Network help to connect employee motivations to the well-being of their office spaces and office environments.